Because it was Labor Day something around the house had to be fixed, last year it was the downstairs bathroom sink, this year it was the handrails on the stairs — as Oliver pointed out one day, “mommy, dem bo-ken!”
So we got Gavin, and put him to work, it is labor day weekend after all.
We took down the old railing — and by “we” I mean Gavin, the boys over saw. Then we patched up the walls, cleaned the walls, primed and painted.
After a false start, and ambitious trips to Lowes and Mead Clark, we’ve decided to replace the handrails as stripping the paint would damage them further. After some sanding, priming and painting (spread out over a week … or two? to let all the paint dry properly), they were finally ready to be installed.
The boys “helped” with the instillation.
The new brackets were the sturdiest looking ones they had, they’re screwed solidly into the studs and we hope to not need to deal with them again for a number of years. 
It’s so nice to have a man around the house!